Rune Mage [Fantasy/Adventure | Book 1 +2 | Complete]

CHAOS MAGE Chapter 31: The Rule of the Strong

For all Kaim had done and all his lies, Eleia couldn't kill him. Taking a life for a life didn't make anything right. Gerta and Magus had taught her that from when she was little, when she came into a silent world where people's mouths and faces didn't make sense, when her own mother and father felt she was broken. She wouldn't wish such treatment on anybody. Killing Kaim because he threatened the Karman twins and killed Okin and all those who'd eagerly joined their infiltration into the palace at Falnash wouldn't right any wrongs. If anything, it would darken their holy souls even further.

The air thickened and the pulsing beneath Eleia's skin intensified. A quiet presence rustled around her; she could sense its presence and feel it creeping about at the edges of her mind. Castiel pressed closer to her skin.

Apollinon was here.

Eleia clutched the unsheathed dagger in her left hand, tightening her grip until her fingers turned white. She snapped her head up, eyes bright. Leviat waited with amusement, evidently enjoying her turmoil. She drew her hand back and hurled the dagger with all her might, not at Kaim — but at Leviat.

Leviat's eyes widened. He jerked his wrist. Black and gold dust fell before him and the blade disappeared into the cloud. It was a wild throw and had probably missed. A pair of stocky, scaly feet with webbed toes hit the ground. The dust contracted and dissipated. The blade fell and bounced on the floor. Blocking her defiant attack was Iramiah, Leviat's stocky daemon, standing upright with her elongated mouth opened, showing jagged teeth that closed in a scissor bite, and black, unforgiving eyes. She dropped back onto all fours on sturdy legs before she oriented herself so she faced Eleia head-on, her fat tail swishing behind. Her body bore heavy, scaled armour in a shade of greeny-brown. Although she only reached Leviat's knee, Eleia knew better than to doubt the devastating power in that compact body.

"Pity." Leviat's single utterance made Eleia's heart skip a beat. She snatched the pouch of dust at her feet and grabbed a handful. Closing her eyes, she threw them in the air. Her soul reached into another dimension through the opening, extending tendrils towards Castiel's true body. Castiel had no chance of defeating Iramiah, Eleia knew that, but she would rather die fighting for something right than betray herself.

The world slowed. Her soul continued to stretch towards Castiel, who sat curled in his usual spot in the netherworld, watching her with his slit-pupilled eyes. A scarlet shape eased out from behind him, curling around Castiel's body and watched Eleia's approach with gleaming eyes as golden as Tophalite in sunlight. Long whiskers curled from his nostrils up to over his head, twitching independently. Lush crimson hair sprouted from his jaw, running down his throat. Castiel's forked tongue darted out but he remained calm.

"You call upon Apollinon?"

Although he didn't speak with his voice, Eleia heard his rumbling words in her mind as if he directly vocalised within her skull. A long crimson tail, lined with golden hair, swished behind him.

"I need your help," she said, halting. She didn't need to speak with her hands either. Her own voice rang clear in her mind.

"During crises, I, Apollinon, rise to help House Tophalis survive the strife. I have not been called in centuries."

"Please." Eleia clenched her fists. "My friends... my countrymen... they depend on me now. My brother Fautos has gone rogue and my other brother Magus might very well be dead. I have to do something."

"Do you choose to do so, Princess Tophalis? Or are you forced to?"

"What difference does it make?" She shook her head. Why was the daemon asking peculiar questions when time was of the essence? "If you don't help me, we're all doomed — the whole of Hanna. Fautos is intent on declaring war on Karma—"